Claire Gilbert, nee Honey Diehl, was born in 1920 in Pennsylvania. Raised by her father and stepmother, she survived a difficult childhood, emancipating herself at the age of fifteen by boarding a bus to Los Angeles, California. She started working when she was barely a teenager, reinventing herself many times over. Her joie de vivre and lack of artifice has translated into an eventful and colorful life during the most remarkable era in the country's history. Claire personifies the guts and charisma of the Greatest Generation, starting from nothing and achieving the American dream. Along the way, she has struggled with poverty, war, natural disaster and heartbreak, but she has forged a successful career, nurtured a family, made many wonderful friends, and found one great love. Claire currently lives in Hawaii where she paints and writes."